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Hockey Hall of Fame finds itself in a ‘sticky’ situation

As part of exhibition to display to celebrate 100th anniversary of the Leafs, the Hall put on display a CCM stick it says that Darryl Sittler used to score an NHL-record 10 points in a 1976 game. But Sittler says the stick was lost in a fire, sparking an investigation.

Darryl Sittler set an NHL record back on Feb. 7, 1976 with 10 points in one game that still stands today. (Ron Bull / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO)

The Hockey Hall of Fame thinks that this is the stick that Maple Leafs captain Darryl Sittler used in his 10-point record game in 1976. But Sittler believes it actually perished in the fire. The museum is investigating. (HOCKEY HALL OF FAME / HANDOUT)

The Hockey Hall of Fame thinks the CCM stick (fourth from the bottom) is the one that Darryl Sittler used in his 10-point game. (HOCKEY HALL OF FAME HANDOUT)

When the Hockey Hall of Fame opened its exhibit this month to celebrate 100 years of Maple Leafs history, it didn’t know a 40-year-old mystery would begin to unravel that would leave the museum holding the short end of the stick.

Part of the memorabilia the Hall put on display on its first day was purported to be the CCM stick Darryl Sittler used to score an NHL-record 10 points in one game on Feb. 7, 1976.

“Really?” said Sittler, almost hopefully, when informed.

It came as news to Sittler because, as far as the former Maple Leafs captain knew, the stick no longer exists.

“All I know is it was lost in a fire,” Sittler said.

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The Hall, when told of Sittler’s account, quietly removed the stick from the just-opened display.

But the Star and the Hall both tried to get to the bottom of the sticky situation.

Sittler — who celebrated the 40th anniversary of the historic night in February — has retold the story many times.

Sittler remembers then-trainer Joe Sgro taking the stick at the end of the game, though, to be honest, he doesn’t remember if he used one or two sticks that night against Boston. A few years later, Sittler said, Sgro told him the stick was lost in a townhouse fire.

“I never had it. I didn’t have it,” Sittler said.

Normally, after such a momentous night, the Hockey Hall of Fame would come calling. It was the job then of Lefty Reid to gather historic material. Reid was a season-ticket holder, with a pair of seats in the south end.

“But I didn’t attend that game,” said Reid, now 88 and living in Peterborough. “By the time Sittler got to eight points, I tried to get a hold of Stan Obodiac (the team’s media relations director) but I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to get Darryl’s stick.

“I didn’t always get everything I asked for.”

Reid retired from the Hall of Fame in 1992, passing his archived material to a new generation.

When it was time to put the Leafs’ centennial package together this year, workers found a stick — labelled as the one used by Sittler that night — in the Hall’s archives upstairs at the MasterCard Centre.

Phil Pritchard, best known as one of the keepers of the Stanley Cup, has been doing his best to stickhandle his way through the mystery.

“We have it listed as that stick,” Pritchard said. “But we don’t have a receipt documenting it.”

Without the receipt, how the stick got there and ended up with that label is unknown.

Being a stickler for details, the Hall is conducting its own investigation. Neither the Star nor the Hall could reach Sgro to get his version of the story.

For now, another CCM Sittler milestone stick has taken the spot of the mystery stick.

“We’ve taken the stick off display till we can figure out what it is,” Pritchard said. “We’re going to go through all photos we have to match it up to at least as close as we can. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it one day.”

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